Edge-finishing machine



. Feb. 12, 1929.

E. M. SPENCE EDGE FINISHING MACHINE Filed June 1926 g igx l.

//\/ VE/V 747/1 KMZJ 4% 1 igzfi.

Fig.5.

Patented Feb. 12, 1929.

o rt ED STATE- Si PATENT, OFFICE;

EDWARD-14f. SPENCE, OE LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TOFUNITED SHOE MA CHINE-RY CORPORATION OF 1? A'J.1513:3011,v NEW JERSEY, A CORP ORATION, OF NEW JERSEY. I

} Application filed June 7;

This invention relates'to machines in which a hot shrinking tool'isemployed for finishing the edges of pieces of'sheet material and is herein'i'llustrated as embodied in a machine for finishing the edges of pieces of upper leather which are to be used in theimanufacture of boots and-shoes.

Machines of this general typecommonly comprise a support for a leather piece, a plow or turning post, a heated tool spaced somewhat from the operative face of the turning post and means for feedingthe leather over the support with the display side of the leather (usually the grain side) in contact with the support and with the extreme margin ofthe other side (usually thefiesh side) held up against the hot shrinking tool where by the margin of the flesh'side is shrunk and the margin of the grain side'caused to curl toward the flesh side, so that in the finished work the edgepresents a grain surface instead of the flesh surface which resulted when the leather piece was originallycut out of the skin, a hammer being commonly em ployed which strikes the edge to increase the curl thereof.

With certain kinds of work it has been found desirable to skive the edge before presenting the work to the machine; but whether the work is skived or unskived, the edge of the workor a portion of the edge is bent up between the shrinking tool and the turning post and, as has been stated, is operated upon by the hammenthe amount of stock which is finally bent down by the hammer depending upon the amount which extends up between the turning post and the tool.

The generalobject of the present invention is to improve still further machines. of this general type soas to facilitate operating upon a greater variety of unskivedwork and to ensure that the width" of the curled edge shall be uniform. j i i According to one feature of the present in.- vention, a recess is provided in the tool which is located partly in that'face of. the tool which is opposite the work support and partly ina face which forms an angle with the firstnamed-face. In the illustrated embodiment of the inventionthis recess takes theform of a groove which extends from the forward end of the tool along the bottom thereof and then up and across a portion of that'side of the tool nnen-rrnrsrrme MACHINE.

1926. Serial No. 114,199.

which is adjacent to the turning post, the

groove being comparatively deep and" wide atits front endand becoming narrower and shallower asit progresses. ln'the operation of the machine the work is fed through this groove that portion of the groove which is in the bottom of thetool serving as a stop to limit the extent to which the edge of the'work maybe bent up while the portion ofthe groove in the side of the tool provides space into which the edgemay curl, the generalextent ofthe groove, due in partpto the spira'lturn which it makes, faciliatingthe proper curling oftheedgje.

These-and other features of the invention, including certain details of construction and combinations of parts,will be'described as embodied in anillustrated machine and pointed out in the appendedclaimsi' Referring now to the Fig. 1 is a perspective of a portion of a machine in which the present invention is embodied; Y v

Fig. 2'is a perspective of the ,shrinking'tool; Fig. 3 is a vertical section through a portion of the machine on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2'showing a piece of work in process of being operated upon; r

Fig. 4 is a similar section on :the line-H; and i i Fig. 5 isa cross-section of a piece of work after it has been operated upon.

Figures 3 to 5' inclusive are shown upon exaggerated scales. i

The illustrated. machineis similar its general organization to the machine of Letters Patent No. 1,599,518, granted Sept. 4, 1926, upon anl application filed in the name of Fossa', and reference ismade totha't application for details of construction not described below. I

a The worklisfed intermittently over a table 5 in the directionindicated by thearrow in Fig. 1 by an upper feed member a lower feed member9 and a hammen'not'shown. The lower feed member moves back and forth. The upperfeed memberand the hammer describe rectangular paths in a vertical plane; The leather piece rests with its grain side uponthe table 5' and upon the lower feed member 9, with its margin bent upwardly and in contact with a turning post 11. Lo-

accompanying drawadvantages are attained.

cording to the nature and weight of the leather being operated upon, but in any case is maintained sufiiciently high to'sear and shrink the leather on one side so that the unshrunken side will curl toward the shrunken side. The lower side or bottom of the shrinking tool is inclined downwardly to the plane of the table from front to rear, as shown in Fig. 1; and the side of the tool adjacent to the turning post is inclined slightly away from the post from front to rear, the forward portion of the tool being close to the post, as shown inFig. 3, and the rear portion being slightly spaced from the post, as shown in Fig. 4. This spacing has been considerably exaggerated in the figures since it could not otherwise be shown. The actual distance from the rear of the tool to the post is in the neighborhood of .003 of an inch. As the leatherpasses beneath the tool, it is shrunk on the flesh side so that the grain side curls toward the flesh side, the hammer descending at the proper time upon the curled edge.

The illustrated shrinking tool is provided with a recess in the form of'a groove having a portion 15 located in the bottom of the tool and a connecting portion 17located in that side of the tool which is adjacent to the turning post. This groove starts at the forward end of the tool and is deepest atthat point. The portion 15 is f-shaped in cross-section as best shown in Fig. 3. The inner wall of the portion 15 terminates in a thin edge 18, which is substantially parallel to the plane of the innerside of the tool. The edge 19 of the outer wall of the portion 15 of the groove extends somewhat obliquely from front to rear of the tool so that the portion 15 is wide at its forward end and grows progressively narrower toward its rear. This portion is also deep at its front end and growsprogressively shallower toward the rear. By, providing the portion with this shape, several The leading end of the edge of the work may bereadily presented to the roove, and the groove at that locality is shaped to fitaround the flesh corner of the edge as shown in Fig. 3. As the workis fed along, the flesh is shrunken and probably to some extent burned away, so that its size decreases, the decreasing size and width of the groove being provided because of this decreasein the dimensions of the edge. The edge is thus shrunk to a great extent by the time it reaches the quarter or spiral turn of the groove through which it passes to the position shown in Fig. 4. In this position the'edge of the work extends into the portion 17 of the groove, being bent about the lower wall 21 of the portion 17. This thin wall 21 projects into the concavity of the curved edge mer the edge, which is at that time somewhat Jiastic into the a J roximate aosition shown in Big. 5.

The tool of a machine of this general type is maintained, during its operation upon the work, at such liable to be bent sidewise if any considerable force exerted upon it which tends to produce such a bending. It should be noted, in this connection, that the portion 15 of the groove in the tool is V-shaped in cross-section with its walls making equal angles withthe vertical. Consequently, as the leather passes through this portion of the groove, whatever forces the leather may there exert sidewise of the tool are equal and opposite so, that there is no tendency to bend the tool to one side.

The width of the edge of the leather which is permitted to be bent upis limited by the engagement of the leather with the portion 15 of the groove so that this width is substan tially uniform; and the whole groove, owing to its spiral turn, facilitates the proper curb in ofthe edge. I

Although he groove has been illustrated as being of a particular shape and location,

it SllOultl. be understood that the invention is high temperature that it is ii i) not limited in its broader aspects to this 'par ticular groove.

llaving thus described my invention, what 1 claim as new and deslre to secure by Letters;

Patent of the United States is:

1. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a shrinking tool, and means for causingthe tool to operate upon the work to curl the edge thereof, said tool having a recess adapted to receive the edge of the work, one part of said recess being located in the u cilder face of the tool andanother part in its s1 e. r

2. A machineof the class described having, in combination, a support for the work, a shrinking tool, and means for causing the tool to operate upon the work to curl the edge thereof, said tool having a recess to receive the edge, one part of the recess being located in that face of the tool which is ad aQent to the support and another part in a face which forms an angle with the first-named face.

3. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a shrinking tool, and means for causing the'tool to operate upon the work to curl the edge thereof, there being in the tool 1 l tool to a locality near the rear end and there making a turn so that a rear portion of the groove is in the side of the tool.

4-. Amachine of the 'classdescribed having, in combination, a support for the work, a shrinking tool, and means for feeding the work over the support with its edge portion in contact with the tool, said tool having in its bottom a groove part of which decreases in size from front to rear to provide for the shrinking of the edge portion of the WOllQ and part of which lies in the side of the tool to aid in curling the shrunken edge.

5. A machine ofthe class described having, in combination, a support for the work, a shrinking tool, and means for feeding the work over the support with its edge portion in contact with the tool, said tool having in its bottom a groove part of which decreases in size from front to rear and part of which lies the side of the tool, the bottom part servhag-as a stop to limit the extent to which the edge portion of the work may bend upwardly and the side portion serving to impart a curl to the shrunken edge.

6. A machine of the class described having,

, in combination, a support along which the work is fed, a shrinking tool, and a co-operating turning post, there being formed in the tool a groove to receive the edge of the work shaped to guide the edge first in a path located between the tool and the supportand then in a path extending in a different direction and located between the tool and the turning post.

7. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a support along which the work is fed, a shrinking tool, and a oo-oper-.

ating turning post located adjacent to the inner side of the tool, there being in the tool a groove comprising a portion located in the bottom of the tool, another portion located in the inner side of the tool and a curved connecting portion.

8. A shrinking tool for a machine of the class described having a groove adapted to receive the edge of the work, said groove, extending from thefront thereof along the bottom to a locality near the rear and there making a curved turn up across a portion of a side thereof.

9.'A shrinking tool for a machine of the class described having a groove part of which is located in the bottom and partin the side thereof, the part in the bottom decreasing in depth and width from front to rear of the tool.

10. A shrinking tool for a macihne of the class described having a groove part of which is located in the bottom and part in the side thereof, the part in the bottom being V- shaped in cross-section and decreasing in depth and Width from front to rear of the tool.

11. A tool for shrinking the margin on one side of a piece of sheet material such as leather in such manner as to cause the unshrunken side to curl toward the shrunken side, said tool having in it a recess to receive the curled edge, one part of said recess being located in the bottom of the tool and another part in the side thereof.

12. A tool for shrinking the margin on one side of a piece of sheet material such as leather in such manner as to cause'the unshrunken side to curl toward the'shrunken side, said tool having in ita recess to receive the curled edge, said recess extending along its bottom and across a portion of its side. In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

EDWARD M. SPENCE; 

